If you are truely paranoid about it there are a few things you can do: 1) Write a C function that returns all of your information and compile it into a DLL. Use P/Invoke to retrieve the information. Make sure all of the string data you store in the DLL is encrypted. When you return it from the C function you can unencrypt it at that time. Store the keys in the DLL as a byte array not a string to prevent 'strings' processing. 2) Write a COM dll that does the same thing as 1 There are problems with this as well because anyone else can load the C function, or COM object and invoke the required methods. There is also the question of hiding information from one customer to another. You could do a one-time key gen and store it on the client machine. This would prevent one customer from obtaining information that might be important to someone else if they got a hold of their data files. Yet another approach would be to use an algorithmic key generation approach. This would involve using a complex sequence of steps that produce a static key. The key wouldn't embeded in the software, but the algorithm that generates the key would be in the code. This code then could be obfuscated adding another layer of protection (Protection being relative in this case). Always remember that if a client has binaries on their machine, it's difficult to absolutely prevent them from getting a hold of important data. That being said, you can make it so difficult to obtain the information that it's not worth it. Now for the security experts, security by obscurity is not a good option. All of the methods I have mentioned is security through obscurity. Normally when it comes to security you need to base on it something else, like 'things they have', 'things they know', etc... - Drew

You can't eat your cake and have it too. The whole premise behind using locale settings is so that applications won't make assumptions as to what the user wants. If the user sets up their machine to have , (comma) as the thousands separator, you mustn't override that with something else, or remove it altogether. Same goes for fractional digits, decimal points, negativity, etc. I have a slightly similar situation with the project I am working on. It's a scheduling application, which makes heavy use of dates and times. The application has to work no matter what locale it is in, or what regional settings are in place. Luckily, the NLS functions minimize the pain.

Bitmap format is pretty simple. You will need to define all structures (BITMAPFILEINFO, BITMAPINFO, etc.), then just fill them right and save to disk. Look up for more information on structures in MSDN[^] Philip Patrick Web-site: www.stpworks.com "Two beer or not two beer?" Shakesbeer

I think you can use _ftime() to get the current timezone. /ravi Let's put "civil" back in "civilization" http://www.ravib.com ravib@ravib.com